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Re: Mouse proof your airplane?
Our all-metal T-hangars are rented out by the city and the grounds are usually well-maintained year round. Still the occasional rat does get into them now and again. I have caught two over the past year and swept a good dustbin full of rat droppings off the floor in this time. I have even found one or two pellets under the seat but so far no more. The plane is up on jacks with the wheels off and the tailwheel is a personal project since the shop gave up on the whole thing halfway through the last annual and pushed it where it now sits.
Unless the rodent problem is as bad as the situation John just described the best method of controlling them is still the old standby snap trap. I tried using a live-catch type (because I'm one of those tree-hugging do-gooder environmentalists who worked thirty years for the Federal Government trying to clean up the messes some of you are still out there making-) and it worked like a charm till I left it set (with no bait mind you; I figured what's the harm-) then came back after being away some weeks and found the remains of a rat that had died of starvation.
If your aim is to kill them it's best to do it quickly and where you can always go and find the body so you can dispose of it before it decomposes like my last one did. Poisons won't afford you that luxury and they are toxic in every other way.
It seems these critters come mostly in winter months when food becomes scarce. They have to be desperate to come to my hangar because the only thing they seem to eat is soap. I keep some Lava brand in the hangar for cleaning greasy hands. But here in Florida when it's warm most of the year there are far better food choices out in the field. So I don't see rat droppings most of the time.
Still I am getting out those traps. There isn't going to be a next time.
And for the record, the native Florida (field) Woodrat looks a lot like the invasive Norway (house) Rat. But these are Norway Rats. They are not native and not killing them means releasing them somewhere where they can breed. So away with them. I am an environmentalist after all. And it's the right thing.
Our all-metal T-hangars are rented out by the city and the grounds are usually well-maintained year round. Still the occasional rat does get into them now and again. I have caught two over the past year and swept a good dustbin full of rat droppings off the floor in this time. I have even found one or two pellets under the seat but so far no more. The plane is up on jacks with the wheels off and the tailwheel is a personal project since the shop gave up on the whole thing halfway through the last annual and pushed it where it now sits.
Unless the rodent problem is as bad as the situation John just described the best method of controlling them is still the old standby snap trap. I tried using a live-catch type (because I'm one of those tree-hugging do-gooder environmentalists who worked thirty years for the Federal Government trying to clean up the messes some of you are still out there making-) and it worked like a charm till I left it set (with no bait mind you; I figured what's the harm-) then came back after being away some weeks and found the remains of a rat that had died of starvation.
If your aim is to kill them it's best to do it quickly and where you can always go and find the body so you can dispose of it before it decomposes like my last one did. Poisons won't afford you that luxury and they are toxic in every other way.
It seems these critters come mostly in winter months when food becomes scarce. They have to be desperate to come to my hangar because the only thing they seem to eat is soap. I keep some Lava brand in the hangar for cleaning greasy hands. But here in Florida when it's warm most of the year there are far better food choices out in the field. So I don't see rat droppings most of the time.
Still I am getting out those traps. There isn't going to be a next time.
And for the record, the native Florida (field) Woodrat looks a lot like the invasive Norway (house) Rat. But these are Norway Rats. They are not native and not killing them means releasing them somewhere where they can breed. So away with them. I am an environmentalist after all. And it's the right thing.
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